Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health has recruited health economist Michael Morrisey to the college’s Department of Health Policy and Management.

Morrisey, who is currently serving as director of the Lister Holl Center for Health Policy, and co-director of the Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research and Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will assume his new role in September of this year.

A pioneer in health economics and the author of five books and over 160 peer reviewed papers on this subject, his research focuses on employer sponsored health insurance, the effects of legislation and regulation in health and health care, hospital economics, and labor market issues in health economics and health services administration.

While at Texas A&M, he plans to continue his research on Medicaid and children’s health insurance plans, with a new focus on the State of Texas, as well as on issues and opportunities that stem directly from the Affordable Care Act rollout to employers, consumers and providers.

For him, Texas A&M School of Public Health’s “strength,” it is the “synergy with other diverse Colleges at the University, and its trusted position with State of Texas leadership makes an ideal time to join the outstanding team,” he said in a press release.

Brett P. Giroir, executive vice president and CEO of Texas A&M Health Science Center, believes that this recruitment will enhance the school’s “ability to assess and ultimately solve critical health care issues such as access and affordability that face both Texas and the nation.”

Jim Burdine, interim dean of the Texas A&M School of Public Health, is also enthusiastic about Morrisey’s arrival, who he sees as “one of the most respected health economists in the United States today,” and whose “esteemed status with policy makers is evidenced by his appointments to the Board of Advisors of the Washington, D.C., Center for Health and Economy, the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Census Research Data Center, and as an adjunct scholar of the American Enterprise Institute and visiting scholar at the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank.”